From: Cari Machet (email suppressed)
Date: Tue Mar 24 2009 - 21:52:44 PDT
cari machet
nyc 347-298-9818
AIM carismachet
Skype carimachet - 646-652-6434
Syria +963-099 277 3243
Amman +962 077 636 9407
On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 5:12 PM, malgosia askanas <email suppressed> wrote:
> Cari wrote:
>
> black and white thinking
>> i avoid that like i avoid putting my film of my friend brodie the cat
>> into circulation
>>
>
> Actually, what you posted seemed all-grey, so I greyed it up a bit more, to
> see what happens. There was no black and no white involved.
hahahaa
text black background white
if you want specificity
>
>
> as far as my analysis of the film i see no large difference between it and
>> a brakhage film when he films a cat - that was my exact reference point in
>> the post - the only difference to me is in my mind because i know that
>> brakhage filmed his wife having a baby, an autopsy... other more 'amazing'
>> things than the cat
>>
>>
>> Cari, but if this is the case, why go see an experimental film at all?
>> Seeing a cat surely beats seeing any images of a cat,
>>
>>
>> no because the thing about art is that it is co-creative
>> it is a relationship between the artist and the subject
>> yes the optics can often be the art - the highest form of art
>> - the optical experience one has in the viewing of a cat -
>> however not all humans experience this height
>> therefore there is a need to share
>>
>
>
> OK, so then what did you mean when you said " i see no large difference
> between it [Martin's film] and a brakhage film when he films a cat"? Did
> you mean the heights of all "cat viewings" (irrespective of the kind of cat,
> its mood, the situation, etc.) are interchangeable, and also interchangeable
> with the heights of all "kid viewings", and all creative relationships of
> film-makers with their (animal) subjects are interchangeable, and therefore
> there is no real difference between a Martin film showing a kid, and any
> Brakhage film showing a cat? Or did you mean something very particular to
> Martin's film and (a particular) Brakhage film?
yes the specific film i was referencing was his last cat film
i am sorry it is sloppy but i do not know it's name
but i am also aware that he made more of them
know as well that i made a cat film which i refuse to put out there
so i am biased of my own work
i am biased of 'cute' at times
i will not change that and kind of hate the word and feel bad about hating
it all at the same time
and
i was also referencing my viewing of a super 8 film made by brakhages' son
which made my head sort go to the side like a dog does (cute - haha)
>
>
> Also, what you said sounded as if the only real difference between
> experiences was how "spectacular" they were - you appreciated Brakhage's cat
> more than Martin's kid not because Brakhage better succeeded in capturing
> the height of a "cat viewing", but because you knew he also made movies of
> more spectacular events. Would Martin be more of a "filmmaker" if
> "Gabriel" included, say, footage of a plain crash?
no it wasn't that they were spectacles
not at all
that he had the courage to go inside life to the level he did
and sort of pull it out of itself
she maybe did that with her house making
(as she wrote about it)
but with her paintings - yes
the brakhage cat film i viewed at his memorial service here in nyc
was beautiful by all accounts
and though i refuse to show my cat film
i respect his on it's own as beauty
my point was a bias i questioned specifically dealing with fred
my experience with him 'biased' my reaction therefor
so
it is being confused that i am against brakhage making cat films
i am not
i am not against the film of agnes using a kid
i love the writings and work of both
what i am against is an authority on a subject not being realistic/inclusive
about the subject - that is what i was questioning
i found out that the authority was much more inclusive than i thought
which is GREAT
and i wish the dialogue about that could be better known
>
>
>
> and present-day documentaries or realistic portrayals of autopsies and
>> childbirths surely beat what Brakhage could accomplish with his limited
>> means, no?
>>
>>
>> no
>> first of all i do not think his means where so limited
>> - technically i think you mean -
>> i really don't see it that way
>> his 'limitations' may have created more art actually
>>
>> plus again you are missing the artists mind (not brain) in your equation
>> and what that brings to fore
>> which is more than half of it i would say
>>
>
> All right, but that seems to go against your equation between Martin's kid
> and Brakhage's cat. Don't they each bring something different to the
> equation and to the fore - for better of for worse?
not to me
because as i said
[everyone please film a cat and a kid
(cute is hard for me but...)]
my issue isn't the films really
it is the critics possible bias
and the cultures lack of questioning
>
>
> do you know the writing of robert smithson?
>>
>
> Some, yes. "Sedimentation of the mind", for example.
yes that is the specific essay i was referencing
there are imperfections in the ideas though perfection is not illusive like
it/we want(s) to think it is
>
>
>
> -m
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.